This Product Has Been Discontinued, This Page Is For Reference Only.

This custom bundle features the Peggy 2 kit, plus a US/Canada AC power adapter, five extra buttons, and 175 each of red, green, blue and white LEDs.

Peggy 2 is a greatly improved version of the original "Peggy" light-emitting pegboard display. Version 2 adds animation capability and Arduino compatibility. Like its predecessor, Peggy 2 provides a quick, easy, powerful and efficient way to drive a lot of LEDs-- up to 625-- in a big matrix covering almost a square foot of area. You can make an LED sign for your window, a geeky valentine for your sweetie, one bad-ass birthday card, freak the holy bejesus out of Boston, or instigate the next generation of low-pixel-count video games. Your call. It's a versatile, high-brightness display. How you configure it and what you do with it is up to you.

The display can run off batteries (3 'D' cells) or an optional ac adapter, and is designed to drive as many LEDs as you care to solder into the holes. The board can accommodate LEDs in any color and in several of the most common sizes, including 3mm, 5mm (standard T-1 3/4 size), and 10 mm.

What is Peggy 2? Peggy 2 is a low-power multiplexed controller board that drives up to 625 LEDs of up to 10 mm size. Open-source and hackable. Arduino compatible.

Peggy 2 supports programming through a USB-TTL cable, using the popular Arduino software environment. (Just like programming a Boarduino or Bare Bones Boards.) You can also use an AVR ISP programmer if you prefer.

Uses the popular ATmega328P microcontroller and a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, making it easy to run Arduino code on Peggy.

Peggy 2 boards can be tiled side-to-side without a gap.

I2C (aka "TWI") interface allows data to be streamed to one or more Peggy 2 boards over a single interface.

Small "breadboard-style" prototyping area allows other components to be added on board.

What's new in Peggy 2? Version 2.3 of the Peggy 2 board is now shipping (released February 2010). This incremental release features the following improvements:

Peggy 2 can now be built with a hardware serial port, in the same way as Peggy 2LE.

The Peggy 2 circuit board is now an extra thick at 0.100" (2.54 mm), for better stiffness on that giant board, especially when loaded with LEDs.

Printed circuit boards The centerpiece of this kit is a giant, beautifully made printed circuit board. It is 11.320x14.875" (28.75x37.78 cm) in overall size, two-sided with plated through holes. The board is manufactured with black epoxy soldermask on both sides for high visual contrast, and component locations are labeled on the top side of the board with a white silkscreen. The boards are RoHS compliant (lead free), manufactured to UL 94V-0 standards, and fully electrically tested. Mounting holes are provided at all four corners. Additional holes are provided for hanging the display from a hook or string. Multiple Peggy 2 boards can be set side by side to have a visually continuous field of LEDs without gaps between them.

Building it Peggy 2 is sold as a soldering kit [?]. Basic electronic soldering skill is required, and you provide basic soldering tools: a soldering iron + solder and small wire clippers. No additional knowledge of electronics is presumed or required. Easy "through-hole" construction and clear, full-color printed instructions. Assembly time: 1-2 hours plus time to solder the LEDs themselves. Not sure if this kit is for you? Download the full instructions, here (10 MB PDF File). An extended introduction to the project and its design is available here.

Programming it

Peggy comes pre-programmed with a routine that lights up all the LED locations, so you can make a basic LED sign or display without any programming at all.

Of course, with a little time, Peggy 2 can also do a whole lot more. The easiest way to get started is through the Arduino software environment, for which you will need a USB-TTL cable. You can download the Peggy2 Arduino Library (along with several example programs) here. The library is an evolving open source project and your own code contributions are welcome.

You can also find a technical discussion of programming Peggy 2 here, along with code examples for use with AVR-GCC.